Fortitude
by Katrina Marie Lupin
Summary: Remus Lupin is attacked in his own home, and taken captive by the Death Eaters. Graphic torture, and lycanthropic madness. The fourth story in the A Beautiful Mess series.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1:

The Abduction

Remus Lupin woke with a start.

With a light flutter, the letter he had been writing before he'd dozed off fell to the floor at his feet. With a tired sigh, he bent down and collected the parchment and quill but froze when he heard a sound behind him. He listened carefully and heard, with his lupine hearing, the sound of withheld breathing. It was coming from his doorway, just on the other side of the wall. The lamp beside him and the just dying fire in the fireplace betrayed his position and doubtless whoever had decided to enter his home had heard his movements. He could smell anxiety and sweat from the intruder and they were probably as nervous as he was.

"Who goes there?" Remus called out, trying to control the situation, hoping to frighten them, but they didn't move. Warily, he stood and placed the unfinished letter in his chair, checking first that the date was written and that the parchment was face down. Should he not make it through this encounter, it would be helpful for any investigators to know when last he was here. As paranoid as such actions might seem, Remus wasn't taking any chances.

As slowly and silently as he could, Remus made his way to the doorway. He reached for the wall and noticed only too late that his shadow was visible and a masked figure whipped around the wall and hit him with a nonverbal knockout jinx but, as unprepared as he was, Remus managed to stay conscious, though he did stumble to the ground. He immediately blessed his lycanthropy before a stronger curse hit him. This stunned Remus for a moment, but he easily shook it off.

"What the fuck!" cried the unsuspecting Death Eater.

It was at that moment that Remus realized he did not have a wand.

With a quick glance, he saw that it did indeed lie on the table beside the armchair he had been in moments before and was undoubtedly out of his reach. The cloaked man tried again, but Remus managed to roll aside and ran to take cover behind his desk. There was more scuffling as a second Death Eater appeared.

'_Damnit,'_ thought Remus irritably. '_But of course, there had to be more than one!_'

On the other side of the room, the two Death Eaters nodded at one another and split up. One advanced menacingly toward Remus while the other raced toward Remus' unsuspecting wand. As he snatched up the wand, and therefore also Remus' attention, the other gave him a hard blow to the side of his unsuspecting head. Remus whirled around; only to hear his nose break with a sickening crunch as the Death Eater's fist collided with it. He sunk back with a groan, and after a moment's pause, stood to his not-so-impressive height of 5'10" and snarled, bearing his teeth.

The Death Eaters took a step back, surprised at this unexpected behavior. Remus drew back his fist and gave the Death Eater a punch in the face, returning the favor of a broken nose. As he staggered back, Remus turned to the other, who was still clutching both wands. As the fury of the wolf rose inside him at this injustice, Remus felt his back begin to rearrange.

'_No', _he thought to himself._ 'Not that far.'_

His back snapped back, but a wild gleam remained in his eyes. He could feel claws growing in place of his fingernails, hard and sharp. His eyes grew dark as he advanced on the remaining Death Eater.

Frightened, the Death Eater took another step back, raising both wands at once. The wolf inside Remus sneered at the Death Eater's foolishness. The wands couldn't hurt him now.

The Death Eater murmured a spell under his breath and the two wands merged into a gleaming silver blade. The wolf recoiled, and Remus' eyes widened. But the wolf was better at battling banter than Remus was.

"That's new," he growled, and the Death Eater's eyes widened. Ther voice that had spoken was inhuman... and dangerous.

They stood, staring at each other. The Death Eater radiating with fear and the stench of it filled Remus' nostrils. It was intoxicating in its simplicity and the beast inside of him wanted more.

Remus lunged at the Death Eater, trying to strike, but the Death Eater swung his blade at him in retaliation.

Remus leaped back and then attacked again, coming from the side this time, crashing into the robed wizard, and they both fell to the floor in a flurry of claws and silver. With a roar, Remus jumped back, and rose, staggering, looking in horror at his arm as it burned with the fire of the blessed metal. With a gaping gash in the side of his arm, the pain nearly blinding him, he snapped back at the man who had caused his suffering with fury double fold. The intruder was down, clutching his face in agony. Remus noted with a beastly satisfaction that there was blood seeping out from between his fingers.

A movement from behind Remus caught his attention and he swung around to find the other Death Eater pointing his wand at Remus.

"_Expelliarmus!_" the Death Eater shouted before Remus could react. Without a wand, Remus's body got the full blow of the spell and was thrown against his wall, his head hitting the hard wood with a crack as pain coursed through his body. He slid to the floor as the firelight flickered on his face. His vision was blurry, but he could see two figures approaching him as the Death Eaters checked for conciousness. But they had won, and with a moan, Remus let the darkness consume him and closed his eyes.

"Yeah, he put up quite a fight."

The two Death Eaters stood over Remus Lupin. He had been thrown unceremoniously onto a broomstick and taken to DE headquarters. As soon as they had arrived, a guard had sent a message for a dungeon to be opened and he had been deposited in a small cell. While one of the men that had performed the capture left for the den to nurse a broken nose, the other had supervised a prisoner. Now, an interrogator joined him.

The interrogator crouched down to survey his new victim closer. His youthful face had signs premature aging and there were a few gray hairs in his mane of light brown hair. He looked very fragile but a closer look told the tale that he had definitely put up a nasty fight.

"By the looks of this fellow, he could've given you hell. By the looks of you he didn't." The interrogator stood to face the captor. "You're one lucky son of a bitch."

He dusted off his hands and left the room and the remaining Death Eater mumbled things like "…uncalled for" and "What does he know?" as he traced his fingers on the scratches on his face. However, he too left the unconcious man where he lay and followed his elder.

On the other side of HQ, Lucius Malfoy was writing a letter to an esteemed colleague of his when there was a knock at his door.

"Who is it?"

"Rookwood."

Lucius smiled. "Come in."

The office door opened and Augustus Rookwood, an old family friend, stepped in.

"Yes?" he asked. Lucius gestured for the man to take a seat from behind his large desk. When he did, Lucius noticed that he had picked his lavish black leather armchair rather than the wooden perch beside it and grinned inwardly. '_Once a Slytherin_…'

"We have been successful in capturing one of James Potter's companions," Rookwood reported.

"Really?" Lucius' face brightened with an evil pleasure. "Is it Black?"

Rookwood shook his head. "No, I'm afraid not, but very close."

"Hmm," Lucius replied, not believing him.

"I assume it is so we can try him for information on both Potter _and _Black. I thought you would be pleased to hear of these advancements."

Lucius decided indifference was not a good idea for this occasion. "Actually, I am. Who is it that you did capture then, consequently?"

"Remus Lupin, sir."

'_Lupin_…' Lucius thought, rattling his memories for a face. Then a gear clicked in his mind.

"Does he look rather sickly?" Lucius asked.

Rookwood thought for a moment, then nodded."Yes. Yes, he does."

Lucius nodded. "Then I know the one. Yes, very close to the both of them, if I remember correctly... Very good. Let me know when the interrogation starts."

Rookwood stood and bowed. "Certainly," then left the room.

Lucius sat back in his chair, smiling, with his fingers to his lips.

He loved interrogations.

Rookwood returned to the dungeons a short while later and gathered a couple other Death Eaters to help him, as neither of the captors were anywhere to be found. They set up chains and held the man up and manacled his wrists to the wall and left him on the floor. As soon as he was secure, Rookwood awoke him. "_Innervate._"

Wearily, the man before him fluttered his heavy eyelids and looked up tiredly at the masked Death Eater. He didn't say a word; he just closed his eyes again and dropped his head to his chest, exhaustion winning out over Rookwood's spell. Rookwood thought this was curious but decided not to bother himself about it.

'_Let him sleep. He'll need it,'_ he told himself.

He left the room and locked the door behind with an enchantment of his own creation before placing a guard at the door. He gave the young man orders to alert him and him alone when the prisoner awakened.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2:

When Remus Lupin finally did stir, he was very tired. His limbs were stiff from lack of movement and his arms felt heavy. The taste of alcohol was heavy on his breath, and he tried to recall what he had been doing. Was he getting a night in the pen for getting too drunk? No, he had been drinking alone - wine, as it was - then, when the drink had started making him dizzy after a bottle and a half, he'd felt foolish, and sat at his armchair to write a letter to Sirius, tell him he was going to go through with it and go to America for a bit to help Kathy settle down. The wine, however, had had different plans and did its trick, making him fall promptly asleep.

Yet there was still the question of what he was doing here - where ever that was.

That was a sobering thought. Nervously, he picked at his mind for more and he realized just how fuzzy his thoughts were. He usually took his alcohol rather well and tried to recall what wine in specific he had chosen, and his mind produced the picture of a red bottle with a silver tag.

He cursed under his breath. The damned merlot. Sirius had bought it with the intent for using it as a prank. It went down smooth, but about an hour and a half after you stopped drinking it, the alcohol content tripled, even after you'd started digesting it. Remus, being the ever responsible one, had confiscated it when it was presented at the Christmas party he had been hosting last winter. Sirius had been rather disappointed and complained of Remus "losing his sense of fun" and had stalked away, muttering about prefects and how one was to have a good time.

A quick check of his surroundings told him he was in some sort of dungeon. His wrists were manacled to the wall behind him and there was a door before him at the other end of the small cell. It was maybe ten feet by six, big for a prison cell, but not quite large enough for anything more than a gloomy office. He sat there quietly trying to gather any other information he could about his predicament when he remembered the battle in his living room. It was blurry, but he remembered the sense of fear he had felt at the knowledge that Death Eaters were attacking his home and he had reacted defensively. He flinched when he realised he was probably in one of their holding cells. No doubt now he was somewhere untraceable, without a chance of finding another good soul.

He cursed again, but remembered awaking before and seeing a dark figure above him, with a white face, but he had been so exhausted, that he had closed his eyes and gone to sleep. The darkness of unconsciousness was so comfortable that he willed it to come to him for a while.

He always did.

He didn't know how long he had slept, but when the question finally occurred to him, he noted that there were no windows, except for the one in the heavy door before him, so it was impossible to tell, or even to look at the stars for hope. When he craned his head to look out of the barred window of the door he saw nothing but a stone wall. There was a dim light out there and, based on the shadows, it looked like there was a hallway outside the door. The light flickered a bright green, so Remus concluded it was likely Wizarding firelight, and no Wizarding fire shines in an empty corridor.

"Hey!" he called out.

There was a startled grunt like someone just awakened from sleep and a scuffling on the other side of the door before he saw a face appear in the window. It was too far away for him to recognize, but he was probably about Remus' age, late teens, maybe early twenties. A rookie too, Remus figured, because there was no white mask, just pink flesh. The Death Eater must have realized this as well because the face suddenly turned around to show black hair as he put on his mask and pulled his hood on over that. The still slightly intoxicated werewolf couldn't help snicker to himself at the newbie.

"Where's the hospitality around here?" Remus called out, mockingly, reminding himself of a jail bird.

The Death Eater's eyes gawked at him and left, probably to alert a higher power.

Remus smiled to himself at his Sirius-worthy jeers. What would Kathy have said?

'_Ever a troublemaker._'

The thought made his smile vanish.

With attention coming, Remus stretched, wincing at a sharp pain in his arm. When Remus down up at the offending limb, he saw a deep gash there. The wound had already started to heal itself slowly, binding together to make a scab, but it still had a ways to go before it got there. Based on the lack of progression and a couple of flashes of memory, Remus pieced together that it probably a silver wound and he would have to heal it as slow as a Muggle, if not slower, depending on its depth. He grimaced at the thought. Muggles were usually very slow at everything...

He found himself wishing idly for Kathy again and slunk back against the wall with a sigh.

"Sir, he's awakened!"

Rookwood snapped his head up from the map he was observing when young Regulus Black came through his doorway. He smiled wickedly to himself and turned to his partner in crime.

"You ready for an interrogation, mate?"

"An interrogation?" Dolohov echoed with equal delight. "Sure."

Rookwood picked up a mirror on his desk and muttered a spell over it and it glowed brightly. When the light had faded, there were two in its place.

"Here," said Rookwood as he gave one to Black. "Give this to Malfoy."

The boy nodded respectfully and took the mirror and departed.

When he got to the end of the hall, Regulus turned to watch the two higher ranking Death Eaters depart. He wondered if he should've mentioned that the prisoner had seen his face...

He decided against it. That would be an unwise choice, he was sure, so he instead continued on to his task.

"_No…please, no…NO!"_

_Her screams drowned out his voice as he cast the curse._

_He watched with a wicked smile as a bright red light shot from his wand and hit the woman full on the chest, her praying hands left folded on her lap as she bent over to lie motionless on the floor._

_He pocketed his wand and turned to the still swinging door. He shouldered the portal and passed through to the living room, taking care not to touch anything. As he did, he noticed something out of the corner of his eye._

_Stopping in the middle of the room, he watched an old orange tabby dash across the floor and pounce protectively on the sofa where, not minutes before, his victims had been sharing the popcorn that was now sprayed all over the floor. The muggle telly was still playing the old horror flick and the unnatural light flashed eerily on the cat's brown striped coat. It hissed at him and he meowed in return, mocking the domesticated beast._

_He continued to the hall where her muggle boyfriend lay, sprawled on his back, in the middle of the floor. Carefully stepping over the body, he stopped again at the doorway to look back at his handy work. 'Poor bastard,' he thought. He had unwittingly invited a mudblood witch into his home._

_Not caring to close the door behind him, he casually walked down the walk where the gate still hung open in an absentminded manner. When he reached the gate, he turned again to face the dark house. He took out his wand and muttered a spell, shooting a sign into the sky like a banner, hovering over the roof, marking where the Death Eaters had come._

_With a satisfying smile, he then disapparated out of sight._

Severus Snape lifted his face from the pensive with sneer trapped between disbelief and mild pity. Not that the boy before him could tell the difference between one and another. Only a select group of people could tell Severus' moods, and none of them were present.

"So?" asked the boy with ill-gotten pride.

It reminded Severus of another boastful braggart he had known at school, and so Severus decided to speak harshly to the boy.

"What was your name again?"

"Richard. Richard Scott," he replied as if this was the first time someone had forgotten his name.

"Well, Mr. Scott," he snapped, uttering the boy's last name as if it were a curse word, noting it for later use, "I'm afraid that you have beaten the record of most mistakes in one night."

Severus noticed with pleasure that Scott's head deflated quite a bit.

"Really?" the boy asked, going pale.

"Yes," replied Severus with the air as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "You left the bodies out and you never closed a door. You didn't watch your tracks, you left a live witness, you didn't safe guard any of your actions, you let a victim scream bloody murder for crying out loud and you didn't even use the least amount of stealth. I think the only forethought you had was to not touch the kitchen door on your way out, but even that didn't make any sense because you touched it on your way in." Then, as if an afterthought, he added, "There is more, if you'd like for me to continue."

The lad seemed very unsure of himself, however, and shook his head.

"I'm sorry for taking up you t-time, sir," he stuttered, frightened. Severus could see that, in his mind, the boy was pondering these things and was now turning them over in his thoughts, cursing at himself for every mistake he noticed as he grimly rose from his chair. He was at the door when Severus called out to him.

"Forgotten something?" Severus asked as he held a small vial in which was the copy of Scott's memory.

"Oh...y-yes..." the boy muttered. "M-mustn't f-forget that..." he said distractedly as he collected the vial. Severus watched with a smirk as the shaken lad left the "Interrogation Room." But when the boy was gone, he gave a world-weary sigh and picked up his white mask and put it on, two small holes for his eyes the only windows through which he saw the room.

Behind it, he wore a face of genuine sorrow as he wept a tear for the two lovers he had just watched be murdered. He blew a kiss to no one, but willed it to find the poor girl's soul. It would do her spirit well to know that someone knew of her fate besides the monster who had committed the deed.

_'And he did a rather messy job at it, too.'_

Severus wondered whether he ought to send a more seasoned Death Eater to clean up after the amateur, but decided to let the bastard deal with his own mess. It would serve him right.

His devilish sneer back in place, Severus carefully levitated the pensive into the cupboard in which it belonged. With a flick of his wand, Severus shut the cupboard door and latched it, securing it for whatever use it might have in the future.

_'Doubtless, I'll have another rookie to "interrogate" before the week is done,' _he thought irritably. Why the Dark Lord had placed him on _rookie _duty, of all things, Severus would never know. Likely Bellatrix has been whispering things in his ears again.

Making sure his mask and composure was intact, Severus opened the door of the room to find Lucius Malfoy outside, grinning his own enigmatic smile.

"Good evening, Severus. I see you are still breaking hearts, even in the Dark Lord's service." His mocking tone was often taken as insulting, but the lack of a direct insult was a sign of fondness that few took the time to pick up on.

"Indeed," replied Severus. "And what has you so pleased this night?"

"Oh, nothing really. But I was offered a bit of a show later."

"A show? What kind?"

"_An interrogation_," he whispered. "Someone brought in a believed Order member. It will begin shortly if you'd like to join me..."

Behind the mask, Severus tensed, hoping it wasn't who first came to his mind...

_A red curtain of matted hair hid her face, blood on her hands as she cradled a bruised black arm, the lashes on it still fresh and bright red as her sobs reverberated across the room..._

Inside, he shook the terrible sight away and kept his voice even. "But of course. Perhaps you might help me with a project while we wait?"

"Sure." Severus gestured down the hall to a room he had adopted as his own office and as they did, Lucius toyed with his mask. Severus noticed this with annoyance and when Lucius caught him glaring, he glared back. "Do you _ever _take that thing off?"

"What?"

"Your mask. Every time I see you these days, you always have it on. You make me feel like I'm talking to a bloody clown."

"Well, I'm not as trusting as you are of some of these people. And I only wear it when I'm wandering the halls of _this _place. The fact that you only find me here is hardly my fault."

"Well, if you would ever _go _anywhere else, it might, but you don't."

"I'm never invited anywhere."

"Well, how would you like to join Cissy and I for tea tomorrow afternoon?"

"I'm afraid I can't I have to write out a report on that rookie, then give it to the Dark Lord for his keepings. I also need to make a trip to the Apothecary for a mission tomorrow night, so I'll just grab a cuppa while I'm there."

"Very well. Busy busy, as usual. But Cissy'll want to see at Afternoon Tea Wednesday then."

Severus nodded. "Of course."

"Good."

They walked in silence for a few moments before reaching Snape's office. It was a dark place with stone walls, but a fire cracked merrily in the corner, giving off just the amount of light needed, and fending off the cold.

Severus took a handful of papers from his desk and then joined Malfoy at the doorway.

"Your office, I presume?"

"Sure."

They left again, Lucius leading the way, though Severus could have gotten them there just as well himself.

When they reached the room, Lucius gave a small bow and Severus did the same, entering and taking a seat at his small conference table.

"So, what is this you are working on?" Lucius asked, seating himself and watching Severus sort through the papers.

"It's actually a variety of things, but I hear you're the one to talk to about the Potters..."

Suddenly there was a knock at the door and they both looked up simultaneously.

"Who is it?" Lucius asked. Severus went back to his notes.

The door opened to reveal a young man not much younger than Snape himself.

"Mr. Malfoy, Mr. Rookwood told me to give this to you."

Malfoy took the mirror curiously and tapped at it with his wand. The cloudy surface cleared and he was looking into a swaying hallway, no doubt in such movement by cause of a careless keeper. He sneered pleasantly and looked back up at the boy.

"What is your name?" he asked.

"Regulus," the boy replied. "Regulus Black."

The still masked Death Eater sitting beside him at the table on which they were "studying" looked up. Regulus saw black eyes behind the mask and was quite sure he knew who was under it.

"Well, thank you, Mr. Black."

Regulus nodded at Malfoy and swept out of the room.

"Polite, no?" Lucius asked his companion.

"Stuck up is more like it," he sneered in reply, deciding to finally remove his mask.

Lucius smirked. "Come now, Severus. You must admit it's not every day you find a young man so dedicated to a cause like ours and still be respectful."

Severus chose not to reply. "So, do you have anything for me?"

Lucius stood and went to his desk and, after a minute of searching, found a rather hefty folder and placed it before his companion.

"The files of James Potter and Sirius Black," he said, a pleased smirk on his face. Impressed, Snape flipped through the collection.

"Is this all we have?" he asked, rather pleased at the findings.

Lucius nodded. "Criminal Records, the highlights of their Hogwarts records as well..."

Severus looked up at this.

"Oh, come now, you're not honestly surprised, are you, Sev? I mean, you went to school with them, did you not?"

Severus sighed. "Yes, I did. And you're right, I shouldn't be surprised." But by Lucius' still smooth demeanor, he could only assume that the worst of the Potter and Black's works were either not mentioned, or nameless.

"We've got petty pranking, dungbomb plantings, jinxed wardrobes, dyes, some thievery, quite a bit of name calling, and even a few wand fights..." Lucius murmured, almost amused. Then he looked back up at his companion. "You're actually mentioned in quite a few of these, Severus."

Severus looked sharply up at his friend with warning eyes and Lucius smiled at him devilishly.

Severus was about to turn back to the notes when a voice came over the mirror.

"Lucius, are you there?"

"Is that Rookwood?" Severus asked curiously.

"It most certainly is. Rookwood and..." Lucius picked up the mirror closer. "What looks like...Dolohov!"

"Really, now?" said Snape. "Well, then...this should be interesting."


	3. Chapter 3

Screams filled the chamber. In Malfoy's office, Lucius smiled at his dark compatriate.

"I do know how you enjoy your... 'interrogations'," he said, bemused.

He was met with a glare from the darkly glittering eyes.

On the other side of the glass, Dolohov spoke. "Good evening. My friend and I want to ask you a few questions. Do you think you could help us out? It'll make things easier for you."

Rookwood hung the mirror on the wall for a good view. Meanwhile, Dolohov tossed another Cruciatus Curse at the prisoner, and he howled.

"Let's start simple. What's your name?" He gave him a chance to catch his breath. But he didn't answer. "I said, WHAT IS YOUR NAME?" he roared again, cursing him with a wave of his wand.

Once more, he cried out in pain, shackled and screaming, his body contorting like a beaten fish flopping out of the water, the toy of a cruel fisherman.

And then he laughed.

It was a low, breathy chuckle, his hands balling into fists, rocking in their holdings – a dark, haunting sound. It brought to mind the grindylows that lured the wanderer from the path, or the howling of wolves when you were alone in the woods, unarmed in the dark.

"You boys are going to have to try harder than that."

Severus did his best not to display any change of expression, but he was sure the blood drained from his face. He knew _that_ voice alright. It had haunted his nightmares for years – not as often as she, but still too much. The pure, chaotic power behind the uncaring words spoke of the demon that inhabited that body. Severus gulped, remembering all too well that terrible, terrible night.

"_Snivellus thinks he's so clever. Still hasn't figured out the Whomping Willow, though! Perhaps if he were more observent, he'd have caught us out by now..."_

Youthful pride. Youthful pride and arrogance, and the cost was the burden of a life debt to one of his most hated rivals, caused by the sick joke of a dark and twisted individual that, if it was possible, seemed to be everything the Death Eaters embraced, while being all they shunned as well. He'd nearly died that day, a grotesque, brutal, painful death, or worse – cursed with a life not worth living. But the utmost terror of it all was that horrifying revelation, that knowledge that he'd been forced to keep secret, regardless of the countless lives his continuing silence endangered. He knew that he hadn't much choice in the matter, but it still made him shudder to think that that beast still roamed the earth. A monster that Dolohov was, almost literally, now poking with a stick.

"Ooh, we're a bit cocky, aren't we?" Dolohov purred. If he'd only known what he was dealing with, he would have left that creature to rot in its bidings, and doused its meat with the deadliest poison he could find – before the beast could get out and kill again.

"What is the moon?" Severus asked, keeping his voice even.

"Ah... New moon was, what? Week or two ago? Maybe two and a half. Why?"

Severus avoided his friend's appraising eye. "Just... thinking about potions." He gave a weak smile. "You know how it is."

Lucius chuckled. "Ah, yes. Busy busy. If you're not here, you're holed up at work. How's that old coot treating you?"

"Like his new Labrador," Severus answered solemnly. On a very short leash. The mirror emitted another set of screams.

Remus was tired... So tired... all he wanted to do was go back into the black, and never come back... But the spells. The spells wracked his body with pain, setting every nerve in his body on fire, like he'd been electrocuted. He had the fleeting thought to just let the change come quickly, but there was no change. Only fire, and pain, and the sound of his own screaming.

The wolf laughed. _You think that scares me? I am born of blood! And fear! And pain! Your spells are pitiful against my old magicks. You truly know not what you do..._ He laughed in the face of this torment, and greedily stole Remus' mouth.

"Is that all you got?" he roared.

Dolohov's eyes glittered, but Rook was getting unnerved. He had a sick feeling in his gut as he looked at this man who, in a sick twist of fate, seemed to be enjoying his torture more than his tormentor.

"Oh, no. I have plenty more where that came from," Dolohov answered. He flung a slew of hexes at him, cutting, and stinging, and warping.

And then... they vanished. Even Dolohov was taken aback as the scars started to creep in on themselves. And the monster's giggles were a great deal more terrifying compared to the usual screams.

The wolf grinned. These people were fun. "Come on. Do it again!"

Dolohov did, with a vengeance. He cast another nasty cutting spell, and watched crimson blood slip out onto the prisoner's face before the lacerations healed themselves. A larger slash over his face, now, but it just made his grin more ghastly. A Disarming spell threw his head back against the wall with a sickening crack.

Remus groaned. Everything hurt. He could feel a pulsing in the back of his head, and the Death Eater before him gave a wicked chortle.

"You talk a lot of shit, my little friend," he said, re-energised. "I'd appreciate your cooperation."

"BITE ME," came that dark voice again. Blackened eyes glared at him, and the captive thrashed in his bindings, as if trying to attack them both with his bare hands.

Rookwood swallowed the lump in his throat as he unconsciously stepped toward the door. This man was definitely not human. "What are you?" he breathed, not loud enough for Dolohov to hear.

So he was horrified when the beast looked directly into his eyes. Those beady, colourless dark eyes, feral and ungodly. Like looking at a monster. The snarl that spread over his face bared teeth – fangs.

"Haven't you figured it out yet?" It was the scarcest whisper, but his voice bounced around the stone walls, echoing, and growing louder, and then the room was filled once more with his mad laughter.

"I don't like this," Rookwood said to his partner. He didn't feel safe in the same room with this... _thing_.

Dolohov wasn't going to let the beast unnerve him. "Silence!" he hissed, and conjured a binding over the prisoner's mouth. It was silent for a long moment as the captive moved his maw under the binding.

In Malfoy's office, Severus stood. "Dolohov. Do you need any... assistance?" He had a number of potions that could put that beast down for good. He need only ask.

At his voice, the beast within chuckled. "Snivelly..." he growled, the world almost indecipherable under the gag, but Snape heard it.

"No need," Dolohov answered. "I want to have some more fun, first." He tossed another Cruciatus, and the prisoner thrashed. The bar where the chains met the wall seemed to squirm ever so slightly under his inhuman grip.

_I can't believe they let that thing school with us_, Severus thought, letting the disgust show on his face. He could already feel the old memory making itself comfortable in his conscious mind, and there was no telling what nightmares would be awakened this evening. He had half a mind to fetch the killing drink anyway, and to hell with Dolohov and his fun.

Even Rookwood decided it would be best to leave Dolohov to his guest. If anything went wrong, he did not want to be included.


End file.
